Mass Dispatch 28.0: Forums Closing, Success For Users

The Happenings On The RealGM Forums With Administrator Howard Mass
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Mass Dispatch 28.0: Forums Closing, Success For Users 

Post#1 » by Howard Mass » Sat Jan 17, 2015 2:36 am

Mass Dispatch 28.0.

In this week's edition of Mass Dispatch........................

The Mass Matter breaks the news that some Forums will be closing.

Ask Howard has questions about Fantasy Sports and Tags.

Our Mass Dispatch User, Thread and Moderator of The Week has an Irish Feel

Inside The Administrator's Office has encouraging news for Users who hope to have their Read-Only access lifted.


Let's get right to The Mass Matter................

The Mass Matter: Some Forums are Closing

Sometimes when you expand a business, you attempt to broaden your audience and sometimes you have successes and others do not work out as well.

When we expanded our MLB, NFL and NHL Forums, many people agree that we did it too fast and the wrong way.

While things have picked on our MLB and NFL Forums, they have lagged behind on our NHL Forums .

The lackluster performance of most NHL Forums which we decided to launch at the last minute with our MLB and NFL Forums are the main reason why we will be careful in expanding our Soccer section.

Besides those sections, we do have two other ones in our Other Sports and Off-Topic Sections. While both of these section have been successes, I feel it is time to pair them down a bit to make them stronger.

Effective February 1

- Our Tennis Forum will fold into our General Other Sports Forum.
- Our Graphics and Design Forum will fold in to The Media Lounge Forum

It is never an easy decision to close a Forum but sometimes it is necessary.

A few years back, I closed several low performing Other Sports Forums including our Golf and Motor Sports Forums because they did not have enough interest. These were folded into our General Other Sports Forum.

I had planned to also fold our Tennis Forum as well but Moderator Doctor MJ asked me not too. The Forum maintained interest over the next couple of years but it only gets traffic during The Majors. My feeling is Tennis would be better suited having a few threads on our General Other Sports Forum.

The Graphics and Design just does not have the interest anymore like it used to. It's pretty much a dry pond.

If any Graphics or Signature competitions were to start up again, I am sure our a thread on our Media Lounge Forum will do.

I invite everyone to give Feedback on these changes but believe this will be a smooth transition for everyone.

In the future, it is always possible that interest will pick up and these will return.


“Beat The Commish”

I have the current standings for The Playoffs written down but for some reason, I think there would be excitement if I did this in The Mass Dispatch before The Super Bowl..........

Ask Howard

Have a question about RealGM? The Forums? An Issue you would like me to address publicly or something in general? Just post it in the Ask Howard Thread of The Mass Dispatch Forum or you could send me a PM and I just might answer it in my next column.

Zooropa Asks: Hey, Howard.

We haven't had any correspondence so I'd like to first say thank you for creating and running this site so well. I was a lurker long before I signed up and RealGM is a great community (particularly for hoops fans).

I know that you called for suggestions in the last edition of Mass Dispatch, but this one just came to me. I was wondering if you'd possibly consider adding a forum for daily fantasy sports (DraftKings, Fanduel, etc) at some point in the future? There are a couple of new forums springing up (I use Rotogrinders and the DFS sub-reddit), but with the tremendous userbase already at RealGM, I think it would see quite a lot of activity.

Either way, thank you for everything and keep up the great work. This place rocks.

Howard's Response: First off, thank you so much for the kind words.

Were always looking at ways to expand and broaden our audience.

It's possible we will do something like this in the future here.


Blkbrd671 Asks: hey howard,

i mention this a couple times and got a couple and1's for the suggestion but never heard you mention it

is it possible to address other posters with a "@" sign, that way we can direct specific points to speciffc posters as well as address multiple post in one?

Howard's Response: Ehh, I missed this one.

This is something that we would like to do in the future but are unsure if it can be done with this version of the Forums.

Dream34 will look into it next time we do forum upgrades.


Mass Dispatch User, Thread and Moderator of The Week

Mass Dispatch User (s) Of The Week

The Users On Our Boston Celtics Forum

Does anyone recall a team that has made more trades in the middle of the season than The Boston Celtics? And no, I am not counting those small salary dumps with second round picks included that The Philadelphia 76ers do all the time.

The Boston Celtics are doing a mid-season fire sale so they can accumulate assets for the future while maintaining their draft position.

Our Boston Celtics have been blowing up the forum with plenty of discussion and I have enjoyed reading through it all with hardly any User violations.

I wanted to pick one User but was unable too.

So, I am giving this to all of our Boston Celtics Users.

Congratulations to our Mass Dispatch User(s) of The Week our Boston Celtics Users!

Mass Dispatch Thread of The Week

Our Boston Celtics' Forums Jeff Green Trade Thread

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1364218

This thread has over 1300 posts and 29,000 views.

It is the best thread on our Celtics Forum and since this is a Celtics sweep this week, their best thread wins.

Congratulations again to our Boston Celtics Forum!

Mass Dispatch Moderator (s) of The Week

Our Boston Celtics Moderators

You have got to give our Boston Celtics Moderator Team credit.

UGA Hayes, sully00, Geoffrey P, 165bows, wetsthebed, Slartibartfast

Those names that you see on the forum do a tremendous job in maintaining the forum.

Behind the scenes, they are a cohesive unit and even retired Moderators darrendaye, canman1971, Superdeluxe amongst others weigh in and help out on things.

Any problem the forum ever has had is reportedly to me swiftly.

Not only do they have great results as a team but are wonderful in areas many Users will never say.

Congratulations to our Boston Celtics Moderators!


Classified Ad

A quick Classified add from Moderator jman3134

The Realgm Minor League Board is hosting a competitive fantasy basketball competition. This is your opportunity to create your own minor league franchise with 6 games over a 6 week period & playoffs. We are looking for at least six participants and three or more judges to evaluate the teams that have been constructed."

For more information, please visit our RealGM Minor League Forum

viewforum.php?f=41



Inside The Administrator's Office

The General NBA Board Moderator Appeals Committee gets knocked often from Users who believe their appeals will never be approved.

Well, I am proud to announce that Two Users who had multiple previous appeals rejected by The Committee did indeed have their Read-Only Access Status Lifted.

Both Users followed Mass Dispatch 3.0. and were persistent in sending in appeals when they were eligible.

I am honestly telling everyone that if you have Read-Only Access and make an effort to be a quality poster on other forums while following the guidelines in Mass Dispatch 3.0., your Read-Only Access could be lifted even if your appeals are turned multiple times.

On another note, it was a disappointing showing for our Winter Strike Amnesty Period.

Only two Users attempted to have a Strike removed from their record.

A User with previously had their Read-Only Access Status lifted dropped down to one strike with a successful appeal.

The other User previously had been granted strike amnesty and The Committee was weary of granting it this time around. I do feel this user will have a great chance of getting it this summer though.

I do hope to bring more Read-Only Access appeals to The Committee in 2015 and see more success stories from Users who improve their conduct.

Who knows where that can take you. After all, some Moderators were once troubled Users...........


Contact Mass Dispatch

If anyone has a question, feedback, feel a user, thread or Moderator should be recognized or something they would like to see in Mass Dispatch, please post it on The Mass Dispatch Forum or send me a PM. You could even send me a note on Twitter @homassrealgm
R.I.P. Dharam Raghubir (A.K.A. Magnumt)

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Re: Mass Dispatch 28.0: Forums Closing, Success For Users 

Post#2 » by EArl » Sat Jan 17, 2015 4:38 am

I would also close most of the Hockey board and minimize it just to one board as the General NHL board. Looking at the activity, it looks dead. Having one board for all of hockey might actually help it. Other than that the other boards, don't look as bad.
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Re: Mass Dispatch 28.0: Forums Closing, Success For Users 

Post#3 » by LittleOzzy » Sat Jan 17, 2015 5:10 am

EArl wrote:I would also close most of the Hockey board and minimize it just to one board as the General NHL board. Looking at the activity, it looks dead. Having one board for all of hockey might actually help it. Other than that the other boards, don't look as bad.


I agree. The NHL forums just sadly never took off.

A single General Forum where each team has it's own thread would work best.
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Re: Mass Dispatch 28.0: Forums Closing, Success For Users 

Post#4 » by SuperDeluxe » Sat Jan 17, 2015 6:30 pm

Howard Mass wrote:Mass Dispatch Moderator (s) of The Week

Our Boston Celtics Moderators

You have got to give our Boston Celtics Moderator Team credit.

UGA Hayes, sully00, Geoffrey P, 165bows, wetsthebed, Slartibartfast

Those names that you see on the forum do a tremendous job in maintaining the forum.

This is a super-solid group of mods. Thanks to them -- and also thanks to the vast majority of the Celtics posters -- the forum is navigating this time of rebuilding with barely any issues.

Howard Mass wrote:Not only do they have great results as a team but are wonderful in areas many Users will never say.

I suppose you meant 'see''? :D
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Re: Mass Dispatch 28.0: Forums Closing, Success For Users 

Post#5 » by darrendaye » Tue Jan 20, 2015 9:02 pm

Howard, you called it, it's an exciting time on the Celtics board to discuss the future prospects and a trying time as well. Group works well together and none, from my perspective, have such an ego where they make things personal in how they handle their responsibilities in moderating the forum. Appreciate the mention.
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Re: Mass Dispatch 28.0: Forums Closing, Success For Users 

Post#6 » by thizznation » Sun Jan 25, 2015 2:28 am

Howard Mass wrote:Mass Dispatch 28.0.




consolidating the inactive forums to promote activity is a great idea

*thumbs up*
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Re: Mass Dispatch 28.0: Forums Closing, Success For Users 

Post#7 » by PDXKnight » Tue Jan 27, 2015 1:30 am

Makes sense to me. There's no need to continue forums that aren't taking off too well, focus on what realgm is best at and excel.
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Re: Mass Dispatch 28.0: Forums Closing, Success For Users 

Post#8 » by kurtis48239 » Thu Jan 29, 2015 2:48 am

Congrats to those users who were able to get their ban overturned.Trust me when I say I know the strugle and how hopeless it can seem,I to am trying to get my GB ban oveturned and have been at it for a while.It just shows if you keep at it and out of trouble it does happen.

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